Improved processfor removing the mineral, gummy



To it ll-whom it mag concern:

"UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANTONIO ME-UGGI, on CLIFTON, New YORK...

"ashram-Sa im REMOVING'THEMINERAL, eumuv, AND nrsmous SUBSTANCES FROM VEGE- TABLE MATERIAL.

v Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 44,735, dated October is, 1864.

Be it known that I,A1-rromo Manual, of

' Gliftbn, in the county ofi Rich mondfand State of New York, have invented a new'and useful" and exact description 6f-m y said process, which ponsists' essentially in treating the vegetable material whilewetwith the substances profincediby'the-action oEnirro -nruriaticecid upon carbonate of lime andiron, or their equivalents, and then subjecting it to the action of an alkali.

The best mode which I have essay'ed of practicing'my invention is to exhaust the air, as

completely/as possible, fromthe wet vegetable material, and then treat it with the substances produced'in gaseous form by the action of the compound acid upon oyster-shells and iron.

. If wo'od be the vegetable material to be operated upon, I split it in the direction ofthe grain to a thickness of about one-sixth of; an

' inch, more or less. I thensoakit in cleauwater for twenty-four hours, and afterward pass it twice between a pair of crushing-rolls, by

which it is partially crushed and the grain is opened, washing it thoroughly with clean water. after each passage through the rolls. .The wood thus prepared and drained from thewat-er, but in a wet state, is placed in a'vat or vessel that can be closed air-tight and vis of suitable formand strength to sustain the pressure of the atmosphere when the air within is exhausted. is'a cylinder with bulging eads, one of which is made removable to permit of the ready insertion and withdrawal of the material. ,The cylinder should be coated on its interior with a material which is not afl'ected by the chemical substances used-such, for example, as shellac. It should be connected by a pipe fitted with a valve or stop-cock, with an airpump or other means of exhausting the air within it, and by a second pipe-also fitted with a valve, with a close vesselconstituting the gas-generator, in which the nitro-muriatic acid is permitted to act upon the oyster-shells and A suitable vessel for this purpose h iron. The gas-generator should also be fitted with a funnel-pipe extending to the vicinity of its bottom for the introduction of the acid, and fitted with a stop-cock or-valve-to regulate that introduction. The-oyster-shells and iron are charged into the gas-generator, and as soon as the vegetable material shut up in the cylinder is exhausted as much as practicable of air by the operation of the air-pump, some of the acid is permitted to enter the gas-generator, and the mixture of gases produced by the action of the nitro-muriatie'acid on the oyster-shells and iron, and consisting of carbonic acid, chlorine, oxygen, and nitrogen, is permitted to enter the cylinder con tainingth-ewetvegetable icu ate'ria'i As fast as the gas is absorbed, fresh quantities of acid are permitted to enter the gasgenerator until the charge of acid required for treating the charge of wood is exhausted and the wood is saturated with the gas produced. The vessel'is then opened. The wood is removed from it, and placed in a bath of caustic alkali for about twenty-four hours, more or less. At the end of this period the wood is taken from the alkaline bath, and is passed again between the crushing-rollers, after which it is washed with clean water and maceratedeither in a stem pin g-mill or in the ordinary cylinder pulping-engine used in the manufacture of paper. The washed material is then soaked for two or three hours in a bath of water containing from two to five per cent. of acid, (muriatic acid being preferrodfor this purpose,) after which it may be pressed and dried, if it is to be used in a dry state, or may be bleached with chlorine in the usual manner before pressing, it the purpose for which it is to be used requires bleaching. I The quantities of acid and other materials whichl have used with success to produce the mixture of gases are, for each one thousand pounds of. wood, twelve pounds of commercial muriatic acid, thirty-six pounds of commercial nitric acid, twelve pounds ofiron, two pounds of oyster-shells, aud'two pounds of water.

The alkaline bath which I have used .With .successis composed of one thousand pounds of water, one hundred pounds of soda or potash, and fifty pounds of "quicklime for each one thousand pounds of wood. These propor tionsmay, however, be changed as circumstances render expedient.

Another mode in which my invention may be practiced is by dissolvingthe mixture of gases in water, and then subjecting the crushed wood to the action of this watery solution previous to placing-it in the alkaline bath ;v ontin order that this mode may-"be practicedwith success the water in which the gas is dissolved must be kept cold by ice, and this mode of practicing my invention is not as effectual or economical as that first described. My invention may also be practiced by steeping the crushed wood.- for about forty-eight hours" directly in bath. composed of water containing from fiveto twenty percent; of the nitro mnriatic acid and one or-two per cent. of oyster-shells or mineral carbonate of lime before placing the \v'oodin tire-alkaline bath;

but this-mode ot' practicing the invention has the effect ofrendering the fibrous material brittle-and impairs its' elasticity. v Q The process isapplicable to ol'hcr substances than' vood as', for example, to hay,- straiv, and rushes 'a'iid the-fibrous material obtained may be=used'-for -'an'y purpose to which itis applie Having thus describedthe several modes in i which I have contemplated the application of the princi ple'or' character by which my invention may be distinguished from others, Ideclare that do not claim broadly the treatment of vegetable mat'erialsby ag'as, fnor the subsequent treatment ofit by a caustic alkali; but e a 1 v What I claim as my inyentiomand desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The process of treating a vegetable material I oNroIiiEUCCi the action ot'caustic alkali, substantially as Y itnesses i. a a wi WM. E. RIDER, JoHNSiULARILQ 1i: 

